1 Month Old

Wow...what a blur the last month has been! Harper has had an eventful first month of life! It started out with the day after she was born, Owen got a stomach bug and was really sick for 24 hours. Thankfully, the rest of us stayed healthy, but it was an adventure juggling a throwing up toddler, a doctor visit, and a day old baby. She had her Mimi stay the first week of her life with us, and we all were VERY sad to see Mimi go. Chris took a couple days off after my mom left, and when he went back to work the three kids and I braved our first major outing to Jump Zone. It went swimmingly...until a day later when we realized that Ethan and two other kids we were there with came down with a stomach bug from hell. It took Ethan six days to be able to keep any fluid in him, and in the meantime he passed it on to Chris and Owen. In between nursing Harper, I was doing laundry and disinfecting like a mad woman! Chris lost 8 pounds in three days, and at one point said, "I think this is the hardest week of our marriage." Good times. After 10 days of the horrid illness, we managed to get into the swing of things. The one thing I can say from that time was that it makes having three HEALTHY kids seem really easy! I guess it's all about perspective!

In between all the sickness, Harper had her first photo shoot. I had never done infant pictures of the boys, so I thought it would be fun to at least do one thing new with my third born! Harper was a little champ during the hour shoot. She did leave her mark though...I had left the room to get Owen and came back to the photographer holding Harper while covered in Harper's poop. She'd managed to cover the back drop and everything! I guess what do you expect when you put a naked baby on a heating pad for over an hour, huh?!? We did get some incredible pictures. Thanks, Chelsea, and sorry about your clothes and blanket!

The boys seem to be acclimating pretty well. They both adore their little sister. Owen calls her "Harper Waine, my baby sister", and Ethan is constantly laying next to her talking to her and patting her belly. She is going to be one taken care of little girl. She has already been accidentally stepped on (just her hand), been introduced to light saber action, and lightly punched (all in fun, of course), so she's going to have to be really tough too.

Harper has been such a sweet and easy baby. Really all she does is eat, sleep and make lots of grunting noises. She's very content laying in her bouncy seat watching the boys or sleeping. She's gained weight like a champ - at her 2 week check she weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and then at her month check she weighed 9 lbs 1 oz. All our hard work is paying off! The last two nights she's even stretched her sleeping out so she's waking up at 1 am and then at 5 am. I can do that! I am finally starting to get comfortable with all the accessories that go with a little girl..sort of. I haven't ventured into tights or bloomers yet, but I have loved the little head bands that she wears. Baby steps, I guess. :) It's still a little surreal that I have a daughter, but I am loving every minute of it so far!